america's senator braces for confirmation battle as obama picks so called us estimations are john brennan and supposed maverick of has of this chuck hagel for top security jobs. down and downing streets of bridges coalition government tries to trumpet its midterm success while his future plans leave the public unimpressed. class north korea lives its why a war for the visit of the head of internet giant google amid reports the secretive state is inviting german economy is to help it open up for foreign investment.

and a night of rioting in belfast of legs of the social and political divide in northern ireland as police use non-lethal force on loyalists angered by restrictions in displaying the union flag. at six pm here in moscow and you're watching r t with me to bomb would say our top story this hour now about sophistic use of being anti israeli in charge of the military and an apparent supporter of harsh interrogation methods in charge of intelligence that president obama's recommendations to run the pentagon and the cia a washington correspondent guy image again profiles the nominees. by appointing chuck hagel as the fed secretary president obama is arguably trying to change the

perception that he has embraced bush administration national security policies because after four years of militaristic foreign policy that's how people see it chuck hagel former senator from nebraska vietnam war veteran has been one of their a very few u.s. politicians who opposed u.s. military expansion and who dared to question and dissent from washington orthodoxies on foreign policy one of them has to do with israel if you dare to publicly point out that the u.s. and israel are separate countries and american interests should trump israeli interests when they conflict and that's a subversive thing to say here in washington could be a career killer yet vacated for direct negotiations with hamas he condemned the power of the pro israel lobby in washington here's one of his statements to that effect the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here i have always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i don't think it's in the interest of israel i just don't think it's smart for israel needless to say his nomination for the position of defense secretary has incurred

a slew of objections for the past three weeks different interest groups have been running attack ads on t.v. saying things like he's soft on iraq and he's a bad choice for the job to go on like the vast majority of us politicians who keep repeating the all options are on the table mantra has allowed himself to say outright that attacking iran is a stupid idea is nomination is seen as a bold move on president obama's part and it's an important decision image wise for the president as hinting that possible changing foreign policy but many fear that charge could deliver that change in facade more than in substance because there's only so much one person can do in washington speaking of the other person along with chuck hagel president obama nominated his counterterrorism adviser john brennan as the next director of the cia john brennan has been in charge of some of obama's most controversial policies including the targeted assassinations program one where the the. inspiration determines who will be marked for execution without

any due process oversight or transparency is the man who's been in charge of president obama's kill list last year john brennan claimed that the u.s. drone program caused no civilian deaths in pakistan over the prior year which was an outright lie by so many accounts add to that the fact that as a bush era cia official mr brennan had indorsed torture and rendition and also was a vocal advocate bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and we can see why he is the most fit for the job as the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hago and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being hawkish the president can say does my defense secretary lew kokesh to you if we choose the being soft he can point out his new cia director who can be accused of anything but being soft retired u.s. army colonel douglas macgregor things that senate approves hagel as the pentagon

chief will see much less while mongering from washington. well there are a number of things first of all hago has been a very effective and strong critic of the interventions over the last several years and the mismanagement of our policies and the squandering of blood and treasure on nations that make no sense strategically for the united states that's what subset large numbers of people who have supported bad decisions the decision to intervene and then occupy iraq and then to transform the initial operation in afghanistan into a nation building mission president obama has always been disinclined to attack iran and i think we're going to cease of evidence over the months ahead for an alternative approach which will rely more heavily on the go sheesh and so i don't think the the desire of the israeli lobby and the look government and in tel aviv for an attack on iran will will ultimately occur. obama's choices for the two main

security posts especially john brennan get the abby martin treatment in today's breaking the said next hour here on our team white house counterterrorism team gone a little something like this shoot first ask questions later and answer to no one touching phrase for which we should thank john brennan in fact he coaches obama every terror today on how to assassinate around the world this is the number one advisor overseeing the drone king's kill list john brennan's nickname is the assassination czar for god's sake and this is the guy who is ushering this country to the next phase of the war on terror. mocking the point of its term in office the u.k. is ruling coalition has top of the list of its achievements so far also served up well one hundred eighty reform promises mostly minor but those are threatening more

austerity further reports on the mid-term review. prime minister david cameron and the deputy leader the kurdish and nick clegg giving one of their rare joint public appearances together to deliver this mid-term review it was an awkward appearance it was really really difficult watching there were red faces several awkward pauses there were these really embarrassing it was certainly i think rare public to integrate into somebody would say of this data form and that's probably quite a good thing now this is something up we're half way through the coalition now of course a huge question was whether the coalition again to be breaking up whether they're going to stay together the main message from the to leaders was that presenting a united front that they're in this for the full five years of course their plans that they laid out the next steps that are going to follow already being criticized

by the opposition who says this is and he promises no real substance here you know there was a lot of summing up we're going to get the details of this sort of bulk mid term or the in the coming weeks that some of the things that they thought touched upon that they feel they've achieved and among the things like the welfare reform the education reform you know you cast your mind back to what that actually entailed we saw these huge protest movements a hike in the university fees that he got reagan speech in london you know i think when you get this bulk of detail like this some he certainly seems to be brushed away the as i said a little bit awkward and it was very nice of all the people who were laughing genuinely that was sort of met with a kind of any silence in some part saying you know this is no laughing matter it's a very serious point in the coalition there are big questions for the future of this and big question still remain every time they give an appearance like this we also about europe and people trying to glean

a bit more information and you know it is quite short on substance i think a lot of people are just behaving the plans that were laid out today in the. are you going to be better received than the prime minister's jakes we're a bit fake a little bit of a closer look at the detail of what the coalition has achieved or not as the case may be here's my colleague for the boy. well it does look like the private pension could be going extinct that's according to one prominent pensions expert here in the u.k. he says that by twenty fifty they could be no more because it turns out that just twelve percent of young people in their twenty's and thirty's are saving for their retirement so we've got a lot of young people in the u.k. who aren't thinking about their pensions atoll and that's leading to concerns over a potential pensions gap in the future the sad reality is that young people nowadays they have a lot of very immediate financial pressures on their plate and with austerity measures in full swing with the financial crisis we've got young people on very low

wages having to live with a very high cost of living at the same time they could have debts in the form of university fees that they have to pay off if they're lucky they'll have a mortgage but there's the truth is that a lot of young people have all these very immediate precious and so they just don't have time to think about putting money away for thirty forty years down the line that's money that they might not see again and there's a double sort of irony in this because by the timing that they retire the pension age is going to be at least sixty eight and there are reports saying that some people have said that well if the pension age is going to be sixty eight we might not live that long so why save for it so it is quite a grim picture at the moment. sliding down a slippery slope into the economic abyss the euro zone hits a new unemployment high with spain as again the worst affected small that later in the program. plus other syrian crisis feeds that could have aspirations for

statehood with turkey paralyzed by fear as insurgents as step up their game on home territory. belfast has seen a first straight night of violence as police wide plastic bullets and water cannons at hundreds of loyalists protesters the angry mobs rolled firebombs breaks up the authorities and three sixty officers have been wanted in battle writings over the last weeks and city halls decision to only fly the union flag on special days analysed and political blogger midfield tea things it shows that lawyers don't have enough representation in local politics. what we're seeing here is in northern ireland as a result of the peace process we have a government in which everyone who is elected to the parliament is part of the government not leaves no space for parliamentary opposition and so when something like this happens that is seen by certain mostly working class putting suddenly in

lower middle class communities to use being provocative there is no political way of actually expressing your opposition so the some extent we're seeing just how difficult it is to monitor. a popular protest in a situation where there is no option to change the government so to speak because the government includes everyone who ever gets elected. to new direction in search of a better life blakeley report from venezuela which is becoming an opinion place will also fail to find the economic and social paradise in a more traditional havens. thank

. you. join me on a journey to the heart of the kremlin to a place is hidden from the tourists you're going to meet some real kremlin insiders although they may not be the usual newsmakers you see on t.v. .

north korea known for its reclusive mess and tied into that controls is playing host to a high profile visit from the u.s. one of the guests being head of online giant google the trip while provided as a private and humanitarian one is reading speculation about a company's plans to expand into the secretive state washington frowns upon the visit calling for sanctions on pyongyang up to recent rocket launch meanwhile the have been reports that north korean authorities are hiring german economy is to help open the country up for foreign investment to go frank from the university of vienna says economic development in north korea is still a distant dream. the big problem is actually not north korea building this to receive investors it is the reluctance of western investors to actually go to north korea the north korean investment environment is not the worst cure there although the state has been trying a lot still be do have reports of investors who have difficulties with the red tape

and also changing attitude of the government you know about investors especially chinese investors who have left the country frustration the biggest problem i think for western investors all over is western sanctions and it's very easy actually it's almost impossible not to why only then you section if you deal with north korea because almost anything is that you will use the procedures of checking whether you are not while leaving sanctions are very complicated because. there's also a great deal of unknown to insecurity about what the actual rules are and my freshman is that this is keeping away western investors in particular big ones. getting all of the jeeves there's a controversial date being set aside on the calendar in the united states a right wing group of american vogue and i's a special day to call on owners of weapons to buy them and fire them we tell you

why online. and the mystery of the missing the million dollar of the tease sledgehammer wielding thieves lasted twenty five years ago but now it's turned up again. a kurdish militant raid on a turkish border post has left thirteen people did the soldiers eventually manage to force a back the attackers the insurgency in the south east has rolled on for three decades with talk through of the sub bridges crisis showing no signs of yielding results and. reports turkey meddling in syria may only embolden militants at home. turkey's prime minister may have shot himself in the food by openly supporting the syrian opposition the country's leader may have overlooked the fact syria's political mayhem may have on turkey especially in the border areas largely populated by kurds some observers believe any turmoil in the region between un

corralling damascus will have a devastating effect to guns country. turkey now involved virtually in a war it's used as a base by the syrian rebels and now to the kurds of march this refers to willie. but the dangers here argued bertie guns reasoning behind his support for the rebels can stem from lessons of the recent past. what do you. make. of the. syrian opposition because they've made the same mistake in iraq with the kurdish region which is. now. the. right gate with. syria but that could come as a dear cost of conflict if you turks and kurds has been simmering for some thirty

years with thousands of victims of both sides in fact the last eighteen months have seen seven hundred deaths from the confrontation between turkish security forces and the kurdistan workers party or p k k recognized by some western nations as a terrorist organization some believe the thirty million kurds are ready to rise at a moment's notice to at least gain some autonomy if not reach their ultimate goal the kurdish state the syrian crisis may very well provide such an opportunity and uncross increasing animosity towards both kurds and damascus it may very well be turkey that will end up being the biggest loser in this call that. game kurdish representatives in the turkish general assembly firmly believe no matter the outcome of the conflict the kurds in syria are set for some sort of autonomy and they're eager to follow suit the syrian kurds so will have their own status political status autonomy for long years we also struggling for

a democratic autonomy we want our identity to be recognized and we won the. democratic autonomy regional autonomy then we should have our south governance right but these desires seem to fall on deaf ears within the turkish government without corrals kurdish conflicts coming under increasing scrutiny from human rights organizations accusations of rape torture kidnappings and use of chemical weapons against suppose that pretty separatists have been backed up by independence through the records and investigations and are a major stumbling block on and crusade for e.u. membership the turkish government nevertheless seems determined to avoid the issue altogether instead of turning its attention across the border into syria if you know gosh go r.t. . and turkish involvement in syria's internal war becomes more apparent major

muscle better reason hundreds of military personnel from the e.u. and the us heading to the border for what the alliance describes as protection from uncle as volatile neighbor more on that ahead for you. the euro zone's jobless rate has had a new record high with spain again suffering the most followed by greed's while nearly twelve percent out of work across the block over a quarter of people in spain cunt find a job and warning number comes amid fresh demonstrations in madrid thousands of doctors have been marching against government plans to party privatized health care and though they fear will ultimately lead to further job cuts when it's political analysts and we get more rodell says it's an alarming sign that traditionally pro-government medical workers turn out in protest but it's interesting about these protests in the health care sector is that it's different from

a sociological point of view from all the protests we're seeing around spain we've seen of course teachers and and. public sector workers of all sorts transporter all the services are basically on strike or are staging protests now what is different about the is that you have doctors which are traditionally in spain like elsewhere are traditionally more conservative they rest of them they backed the government prior to its election so this is their own people very same happy with the way the government is going so i think it will it will make a difference it will it will cost some extra problems for that for the current government. as unemployment brings despair to what was once a land of prosperity many of those who are hunting for better life law now making some unexpected choices to see catherine off reports from venezuela on why the country is becoming a more attractive place to move to with no end in sight to the financial crisis

many are finding refuge in countries with an alternative economic model or some venezuela represents a whole new opportunities to bolivarian republic may be a surprising choice after all it's been ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the hemisphere whose murder rate exceeds that of iraq still the world bank says venezuela draws the largest number of immigrants after argentina with one million flocking here in two thousand and ten alone who's. going to give rosa is one of them after decades of struggling in the u.s. she decided to start anew in venezuela. and that's come to you completely alone you go that trying to find a new way to really alone nobody helps you there nobody in caracas the helping hand came from the government a cheap loan to kickstart a small business and subsidies that enabled her to purchase this home that's why

rosa and others like her see the country as a place where. you can move more freely here you have more opportunities. robust economic growth and increased spending on social projects to help create those opportunities having the state on your side in terms of the benefits is a huge think as you don't have to worry about your basic necessities everyone has the right to universal free health care quality health care education at all levels the government provide subsidies to start up small businesses medium sized businesses that do the same in terms of housing to help people if they're coming from a country where the economic crisis is so bad they've been cutting all those benefits but as well it begins to look like a paradise that may certainly seem to be the case for those on the bottom president hugo chavez helped bring the poverty rate down from fifty percent when he took office to roughly thirty one percent and the u.n. says venezuela has the lowest level of inequality in latin america.

it's one child has die hard supporters among the poor but what about the rich critics say chavez is alienating the wealthy many of whom turned out in droves to vote for his opponent in october closely contended election twenty first century socialism hasn't helped us it has hurt job his opponents blame his so-called socialist experiment for problems like limited foreign investment they say that it's driving businessmen and entrepreneurs out of the country. by daniel year g.'s himself a young businessman disagrees after spending twelve years in barcelona he decided to return to venezuela not just for the economic benefits he says but for the chance to partake in a different sort of future order there are two very different political forces in this country. towards capitalism the other is on the path of socialism in the october election the people of venezuela voted to make the country greener fairer to create more opportunities and in this regard many venezuelans like myself have decided to return home and so they do showing that for some gambling in venezuela

system may be worth the risk. of r.t. venezuela. around the world now and in china hundreds of people have rallied in a rare show of support for liberal newspaper they chanted slogans both political and democratic reform outside the stakeholders of southern weekly the paper have been forced to change and the editorial calling for reform of the ruling communist party approaches comes after dozens of academics in china signed an open letter calling for the resignation of a provincial propaganda minister who they blame for the censorship. in india claim two of its soldiers have been shot dead by pakistani troops in the disputed region of kashmir one of the slain soldiers had reportedly been mutilated pakistan denies responsibility for the attack the incident comes after a pakistan soldier was killed on sunday during

a raid by india's military rashmi it has been a source of dispute between the two countries for more than sixty years and exchanges to place despite a decades long ceasefire. the search is on for hundreds of missing people in terms of mania as wildfires continue to rage across the southeast australia warnings have been raised to the highest level which is catastrophic parts of the mainland state of new south wales where there are more than a hundred and thirty fires being spread by strong winds and record temperatures most of the country's been baking above forty celsius for several days. in advance party of nato troops have left for turkey where they will deploy patriot missiles on the syrian border a larger group of european soldiers will arrive later this month when they'll join the dutch and german counterparts the military alliance says it's deploying them is

also to protect the civilians in turkey and syria sees it as an act of provocation journalist manual oxon writer says a support for the mission is lacking in many european countries of course it is a high risk in this you explicitly are but this is what we saw already in the past with other international missions the governments don't seem to be so concerned about what will bring the future in this area but we see something else we see that the population in the european countries if i can say it all during the at the population is strongly against such missions everybody knows who sees the situation right there at the border that what is taking place actually not just since yesterday but several months that the leaders that are. are coming from turkey on syrian soil to do what to kill their people so turkey is right now a security danger for syria not the other way. right take

a tip or through russia's corridors of power while we're there our genie our grand tour of the kremlin begins after the break. crime is a plague of the big cities but in a tiny arkansas town of twenty five thousand it is really getting out of hand pure gold is a property crime index of more than double the national average and rape burglary and assault are also way above average poor poor gold is a dangerous place to live in but what's the answer to living in constant fear of criminals well the mayor thinks that the answer to that problem is to live in constant fear of the government how logical the mayor and police chief have

a doorstop plan to send out police patrols with a ar fifteen and full swat armor to i guess intimidate the local population into submission well actually the plan is for them to stand around it ask people an important question ask them to show id the answer to crime isn't a police state sending guys out with automatic weapons and body armor around just to check people's i.d.'s like it's the berlin wall or something won't do anything a guy who breaks into your house for crystal meth money isn't going to be affected by this only the good average citizens will have to show an armed thug of their id just to go buy milk but that's just my opinion.